So still an LLC, but it is taxed like an S-Corp when this election is made. This allows an owner working in the business to be an employee and take a reasonable salary. W2 income is subject to FICA taxes, but all the other profits in the business pass through to the owner as usual for an LLC, but aren't subject self employment tax or FICA. You still pay regular income tax though. This is all at a federal level.
It's not tax free, as you're still paying the income tax on it, but if you (as the owner) get it as distribution instead of salary, then you're not paying payroll taxes on it, which is what was suggested in the parent comment. You'll have to make sure you're paid "reasonable compensation" (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/fs-08-25.pdf).
Other replies said it, but to put it more clearly:
Is "any money the company makes past $54,000 annually is tax free?" Not even close!
You have to pay income tax (federal, possibly state) on _all_ the money you make. That's very important. Like, "at best a fine, at worst jail time" important.
I was a solo S-Corp for three years and had to learn all this stuff. Here's a breakdown:
Payroll taxes (federal) are taken only out of your salary. If you work for a business as a W2 employee--hourly or exempt--you pay half your payroll taxes, and the business pays half your payroll taxes. The 15% total in payroll taxes (SS, Medicare, FICA) is 7.5% paid by you, and 7.5% paid by the business on top of the salary they are paying you.
So, for example, if your salary is $50,000 per year, you will have $3,750 deducted from your paycheck for payroll taxes and your employer is responsible for an additional $3,750 on top of that. Disregarding income tax, taking a $50,000 salary means getting paid $46,250. But to pay you that $46,250, it costs the business $53,750.
All well and good if you and the business are different people. It wasn't your money to begin with. But if you are the employer and the employee, which is the case for solo S-Corp structures like this, then the whole 15% is coming out of your pocket.
Let's say your business earns $120,000 a year and you decide to pay yourself a $100,000 salary. That costs $107,500 (gross) and you keep $92,500 (net). If you decided to pay yourself a $54,000 salary instead, that costs $58,050 and you keep $49,950. Your profit is ($120,000 - the cost of your salary) and your total earnings are net salary + profit.
In the first case, (120,000 - 107,500) + 92,500 = $105,000. Congrats, you made $105,000! That's a lot of money. Now you pay income taxes on it.
In the second case, (120,000 - 58,050) + 49,950 = $111,900. Congrats, you made $111,900!
Thus, you took home $6,900 more this year because you paid yourself a lower salary, all due to payroll taxes.
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What's the catch? Why not pay yourself $1 a year and increase your stacks?
The IRS has a rule for S-Corporation employees that says they must be paid a "reasonable salary" (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/fs-08-25.pdf). Ultimately they get to decide if you are taking as a payroll-taxable salary is "reasonable".
The way I had it explained to me is that I would need to be able to testify before a judge that whatever salary I picked is "reasonable" (not necessarily market rate) for a person with my skills in my location. $1 a year isn't even minimum wage, so that's out. Minimum wage is out because I can't argue with a straight face that the local minimum wage is a "reasonable salary" for a software developer. So it's up to each individual S-Corp owner to pick a number that they could argue is a "reasonable salary". In this case, $54,000 is probably safe because the IRS has bigger fish to fry.
As in all matters of legal and financial decision making: talk to your lawyer, talk to your accountant, don't talk to cops.